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Monday, July 18, 2011

Sports Nut: Heartbreak

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sports nut
Heartbreak
Team USA loses to Japan in a bizarre Women's World Cup final. Plus: What's the future of U.S. women's soccer?
By Brian Phillips
Posted Sunday, July 17, 2011, at 9:54 PM ET

Japan's Womens soccer team celebrate their win.May you live in interesting times, or--if you're a sports team--may you play in interesting matches. On Sunday, the U.S. women's soccer team, which had brazenly passed through a pair of wild, close games to reach the final of the Women's World Cup, finally ran out of lives, losing a thrilling and deeply weird championship match to Japan on penalties. It was a game that didn't just defy history--Japan had never beaten the U.S. women in its 25 previous matches. It also upended everything we thought we'd learned about these teams during the tournament.

To start with, the teams swapped styles. Team USA had been lauded all month for its athleticism and fitness, which translated into a direct, whack-and-run style of play. In their semifinal match against France, the Americans looked blunt and clumsy, letting their more technical opponents hoard possession for long stretches and eventually winning 3-1 thanks only to a late burst of energy from Megan Rapinoe and some inept French defending. Japan, by contrast, was a team of quirky angles and fine-grained passing, a flair side organized around midfielder (and eventual Golden Ball winner) Homare Sawa. So, of course, in the final, the U.S. women spent much of the match playing like a team Zinedine Zidanes--holding the ball, exploiting gaps, repeatedly splitting the pitch with precise passing--while Japan struggled to string two passes together and desperately looked for a counter.

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Brian Phillips writes regularly about soccer for Slate. He blogs at The Run of Play.

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Apple's REAL Earnings Expectations


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Monday, July 18, 2011
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Apple's REAL Earnings Expectations

Apple is reporting earnings tomorrow and it is bound to deliver spectacular quarter results once again, based on the fact that the company has always been lowballing its guidance.

Its quarterly EPS has been outperforming guidance by 41% on average, and revenue has been 16% higher than revenue guidance.

Based on this trend, Apple should report EPS of $7.09 on $26.72 billion revenue, while its June EPS guidance was announced at $5.03 of EPS on $23 billion revenue guidance.

Wall Street consensus is at $24.92 billion for revenue and $5.80 for EPS, expecting solid iPad sales. Read »


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